Thomas Ford - Jailed at 14 - The Cost of Fighting for the Civil Rights Movement in St. Augustine

Thomas Ford "TK" and James Jackson civil rights activists at the 2022 silent march in St. Augustine, Florida. 

Growing up in St. Augustine during the Jim Crow era of segregation and during the civil rights movement in St. Augustine is something few of us can relate to, but amongst us, we have many residents, who can still tell the story. Some prefer not to, some still fear retaliation and ask to stay anonymous, but some use their voices to tell the story, because they fear it will be forgotten, if they do not.

Jailed at 14, beaten and hunted, that was the reality of Thomas Ford's early teenage years back in the 1960s, and when looking back at that time, Ford wants all of us to know what happened. "You can't put yourself in my place and in the people's place back then," says Ford, "but you just gotta think about it and get deep into some black history and know your roots. Know your roots, know your people, know where you come from. Know what it was like to live back then in that time."

Read the full piece about Thomas Ford growing up as a civil rights activist in St. Augustine at the Florida Coastal Connection.